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What is Phishing? |
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Phishing (pronounced “fishing”) is an attempt to get your sensitive financial information by sending a fraudulent email claiming to be from a financial institution. Typically the message will claim that you need to log on to your financial account for some reason. The message and fraudulent login site are usually good copies of the real sites but if you enter your account information and password, they are sent to criminals who use them to make unauthorized withdrawals.
How do I know if a message is fake? If the message asks you to log into your account, it is probably fraudulent. Financial institutions do not usually request information by email or send links for you to click to get into your account. Poor grammar or spelling usually indicates that the message is not from your bank but is coming from a foreign person whose native language is not English but most are quite professional. |
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Fake email messages usually have a generic “dear customer” type of greeting since they are being sent to millions of people, see this example. Messages may be addressed to you if you are considered an especially rich or influential target. The false login pages usually lack normal security features, see this example.
What can I do? Delete any email messages claiming to be from financial institutions. If you believe that it may be a valid message, do not click any links in the email. Either log into your account by typing the address into your browser or better, call or visit a local branch. Some antivirus programs treat phishing email messages as viruses and delete them. Newer Internet browsers also include an antiphishing feature that warns if you are trying to visit a known fraudulent site. However these are not perfect, it may take hours to update them with new phishing sites. |
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